The location does have a rugged beauty which is captured well by cinematographer Jeff Wheaton. It is beautifully shot perhaps not in the same category as Luc Besson on Wes Anderson but still makes the best of the scenery on the location. There may not be a lot of out and out surprises but A Small Fortune isn’t totally bereft of entertainment. A Small Fortune does work in some narrative surprises especially when it comes to the body count!Ī Small Fortune is an example of the Rags To Riches formula and fits in along with Cinderella, Aladdin, David Copperfield, Moll Flanders, The Gold Rush, and The Jerk amongst others. We all know the theory that there’s only actually seven different narrative plots but how many books, films, TV shows, and plays are there? In short there are plenty of stories that get repeated, tweaked, and told again. But just because a story has been told before doesn’t mean it has to be boring. Should he keep it? Who does it belong to? What are they going to do about it? The usual sort of thing.

The rest of the film is fairly, but not entirely, formulaic. A further bit of rootling around finds another and another until he finds a whole bag full of cash. “Happy days” he probably thinks to himself as he folds it up and tucks it in his pocket.

One day he’s scraping away on the beach and he spots a bank note amongst all the seaweed and other detritus. He has to try and make enough to keep himself and his newly pregnant wife Sam (Liane Balaban). The long and short of the story behind A Small Fortune is as follows…Kevin Doucette (Stephen Gates) is struggling to make a living by scraping moss off the beach and selling it to Omer Tom (Bill McFadden). A Small Fortune is well worth a watch if you get a chance. That makes it sound like it wasn’t entertaining but don’t be fooled by ham fisted way with words. During A Small Fortune there was a bit of the latter and not much of the former. Sometimes you have questions because you just aren’t sure what’s going on. What’s going on? Who are they? Why are they doing that? Usually getting the answers is what is what keeps you gripped until the answers are forthcoming.

Just a bit ruthless